“Is it because if you didn’t do it … then maybe no one would?”
Tom nodded again.
“It must be lonely. ”
“It is. ” Tom glanced at him. “But I always hoped you’d want to join me. To help me do what I do. ”
“I … don’t know if I can. ”
“That’s always going to be your choice. If you can, you can. If you can’t, then believe me, I’ll understand. It takes a lot out of you to do this. And it takes a lot out of you to know that the bounty hunters are out there, doing what they do. ”
“How come none of them ever came here?”
“They did. Once. ”
“What happened?”
Tom shrugged.
“What happened?” Benny asked again.
“I was here when they came. Pure chance. ”
Benny looked at him. “You … killed them,” he said. “Didn’t you?”
Tom walked a dozen steps before he said, “Not all of them. ” A half dozen steps later he added, “I let one of them go. ”
“That was Charlie, wasn’t it? That’s what he was talking about. ”
“Yes. ”
“Why did you let him go?”
“To spread the word,” Tom said. “To let the other bounty hunters know that this place was off-limits. ”
“And they listened? The bounty hunters?”
Tom smiled. It wasn’t boastful or malicious. It was a thin, cold knife-blade of a smile that was there and gone. “Sometimes you have to go to some pretty extreme lengths to make a point and to make it stick. Otherwise you find yourself having to make the same point over and over again. ”
Benny stared at him. “How many were there?”
“Ten. ”
“And you let one go. ”
“Yes. ”
“And you killed nine of them?”
“Yes. ” The late afternoon sunlight slanting through the trees threw dappled light on the road and painted the sides of all of the houses to their left with purple shadows. A red fox and three kits scampered across the street ahead of them. “I let the wrong one go. ”
“How could you have known? With one of the other guys, even Vin or Joey … It might not have been any different. ”
“Maybe. But I don’t get to play that game. I made a choice, and a lot of people suffered because of it. ”
“Tom … when you made that choice, you’d already beaten Charlie, right?”
“Yes. He was hurt and disarmed. ”